New downtown hotel expected to boost business in area

Mar. 29, 2013 5:31 PM

A new room inside the renovated Best Western Premier hotel in Oshkosh.

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Oshkosh Northwestern Media

It has been so long since downtown Oshkosh boasted of a full-service, well-managed hotel that central city retailers have little idea how a revamped hotel could impact their businesses.

Experienced hoteliers Rich Batley and John Pfefferle and the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, will re-open the revamped Best Western Premier hotel and Ground Round at Water’s Edge restaurant this spring.

Downtown business owners get more excited as opening day approaches, but many say the hotel has been under-occupied and poorly managed for so long they’re not sure what kind of impact its reopening will have.

Downtown restaurants and bars are expected to reap most of the benefit, but cafe owners and retailers alike are optimistic that a functioning hotel and convention center will bring more people downtown. And that’s never a bad thing, Caramel Crisp Cafe owner Chanda Anderson said.

“I know that it will be a boost in sales for me no matter what. But I don’t expect this mad rush of people because the hotel is full,” Anderson said. “What I’m excited about is it’s an anchor of the downtown that brings more positive awareness to our thriving downtown. Overall, I feel this is such a huge step for downtown. It’s just phenomenal.”

Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce Vice President for Economic Development Rob Kleman expects the hotel and restaurant’s emergence as a properly functioning business will not only help existing businesses, but also help attract new ones to the central city region.

“The hotel and river walk will drive future development throughout the central city,” Kleman said. “Our job will be to help find available sites for prospects. And as demand builds, the benefits will spread to the north, south and west sides.”

Tim Noe, co-owner of At First Sight Sunglasses, said he doesn’t expect the combined hotel and convention center will translate into major sales growth, but the downtown retailer thinks it will help boost traffic past his shop.

Noe and his wife, Sara, opened At First Sight on South Main Street before moving the store to the 400 block of North Main Street in September. He said they instantly saw an increase in foot traffic from events like the Farmers Market.

He expects the hotel to have a similar impact.

“It has the potential to have a positive effect on all local businesses,” Noe said. “The people coming for a conference or event will not be working 24 hours-a-day. They’ll be looking for things to do nearby, so they’ll take a walk and start visiting the restaurants, bars and stores.”

Exclusive Company Assistant Manager Miranda Martin said she’s excited for the hotel’s reopening because the improvements could encourage people to stay there after events like IrishFest, Waterfest and other things that draw a regional crowd to the community. She said Waterfest concerts help boost sales and thinks convention center events that fill the hotel will, too.